- The coast is generally considered to be an open system.
- Open system: energy and matter are transferred.
- Within the English and Welsh coastal system are 11 sediment cells, each one being a theoretically closed system.
- Owing to the nature of the coast as an open system, it also links to other systems- sediment from rivers joins the coastal system, water is evaporated and joins the atmospheric system etc. This is called a cascading system.
1. Inputs
Input: material or energy moving into the system from outside.
Coastal Examples:
•Energy – wind, waves, tides & currents
•Fluvial (river) sediment
•Coastal sediment
•Vegetation
•Changes in sea level
•Human activities
Coastal Examples:
•Energy – wind, waves, tides & currents
•Fluvial (river) sediment
•Coastal sediment
•Vegetation
•Changes in sea level
•Human activities
2. Outputs
Output: Material or energy moving from the system to the outside, crossing the boundary.
Coastal Examples:
Coastal Examples:
- Erosion landforms
- Depositional landforms
- Accumulations of sediment above the HWM e.g. sand dunes
- Ocean currents
- Rip-tides
- Evaporation
3. Flows and stores
Coastal Examples of flows/transfers are:
Coastal examples of store/ components are:
These are areas that can be temporary stores such as baarier beaches, beaches and offshore bars and more permenant stores such as psammosere successions, halosere's. spits etc.
- Erosion
- Weathering
- Transportation
- Deposition
Coastal examples of store/ components are:
These are areas that can be temporary stores such as baarier beaches, beaches and offshore bars and more permenant stores such as psammosere successions, halosere's. spits etc.